How to refer to things you don't know or have forgotten the name of in various languages. There are different ways to write some of these words as they have no standard spelling. These words are known as placeholders or placeholder words.
| Language | Thingamajig |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | dinges, goeters, watsenaam |
| Bengali | ইয়ে (iay), এ যে (e je), চৌদ্দ গোষ্ঠী (chouddo goshthi) |
| Bosnian | hepek |
| Bulgarian | такова (takova), таковата (takovata), таковам (takovam), онова там нещо (onova tam neŝto) |
| Catalan | daixonses, daixonsis, dallonses, dallonsis, d'això, d'allò |
| Cebuano | kuan, kuwan, ku-an |
| Chechen | хiумм (humm) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) |
东西 [東西] (dōngxī), 什么什么 [什麼什麼] (shénme shénme) |
| Czech | toto, tentononc, udělátko, bazmek, hejble, blbinec |
| Danish | dimes, dims, dimsedut, dingenot, dippedut, fittelihut, grej, himstergims, himstregimst , huddelifut, sager, tingest, tingenot |
| Dutch | dinges, dingetje, dingesgeval, je-weet-wel, jeweetwel, hoe-heet-het-ook-al-weer, happeldepap, hippeldepip, huppeldepup, huppeldepupgeval, soortement, soortement iets, wat-ook-al-weer |
| English | affair, bazinga, dealie, dealy, dinglehopper, dingus, dohickey, doobry, doodad, doodah, doodathingywhatsit, doohickey, doojigger, foo, foobar, frammis, frobnitz, gadget, geegaw, gewgaw, gimmick, gismo, gizmo, gubbins, hickey, hoobajoob, hoojamaflip, jigger, job, jobber, jobby, oojamaflip, stuff, thing, thingamabob, thingamajig, thingamy, thingie, thingo, thingumabob, thingumajig, thingumbob, thingummy, thingy, ting, whatchamacallit, whattayacallit, watcha ma’call it, what’s-a-name, whatsitsname, what's-its-name, whoositdoodle, whatnot, whatsit, whatsis, whiff-whaff, widget, wingding, wossname, wotsit thingmy, hingmie, hingmy (Scottish English) yoke (Irish English) chummyjigger, machine (Newfoundland English) |
| Finnish | härpäke, härpätin, härveli, hilavitkutin, juttu, kapine, laite, mikälie, mikä lie, vehje, vempain, värkki |
| French | bidule, (petit) bidouillou, bidule-truc-muche, chose, espèce de machin, machin, machin-bidule, machin-bidule-trucmuche, machin-chose, machin-chouette, machin-truc, schmilblick, schtroumpf, toutim, tout'l'toutim, truc, truc-bidule-machin-chouette, trucmuche, (petit) zigouigoui affaire, bebelle, cossin, gogosse, patente à gosse (Quebec) |
| German | Dings, Dingens, Dingsda, Dingsbums, Dingsdabumsda, Kram, Krimskrams, Krempel, Sache |
| Hawaiian Pidgin | da kine |
| Hebrew | (mah-shmo) מה-שמו, (zeh) זה |
| Hindi | फ़लाँ (falāñ), फ़लाना ढिकाना (falāna ďhikāna) |
| Hungarian | izé, hogyhívják, hogyishívják, bigyó, cucc, akármi, miafene, micsoda |
| Irish (Gaelic) | cá hainm seo atá air, an rud sin eile, an rud sin úd |
| Italian | affare, aggeggio, coso, comesichiama, fattapposta, roba |
| Japanese | なになに (naninani), なんとかなんとか (nantoka nantoka) |
| Korean | 뭐뭐뭐 (mwomwomwo) |
| Malay | anu |
| Māori | mea, taru |
| Norwegian | chiz, mäsmäsak |
| Ojibwe | ii’ii |
| Persian (Farsi) | (folān/felān) فلان, (bisār) بیسار, (bahmān) بهمان, (chiz) چيز |
| Polish | coś, cudo, dynks, dyngs, dzyndzel, knefel, ten teges, ten tego, ustrojstwo, wihajster |
| Portuguese | cena, coiso, coisa |
| Portuguese (Brazilian) | bagulhets, bagulho, breguenets, breguenaits, coisa, coiso, coisinho, negócio, negocinho, parada, treco, trequinho, trem, troço, trem |
| Romanian | chestie, cutare, cum-îi-zice, cum-se-cheamă, nu-știu-cum, cine știe ce, un din-ăla |
| Russian | какая-то хрень (kakaya-to-xren’), штуковина (shtukovina), шняга (shnyaga), прибамбас (pribambas), приспособление (prisposoblenie), фигня (fignya) |
| Serbian | это самое (eto samoe), штука (štuka), ботва (botva), фигня (fignja), бред (bred) |
| Shona | nhingi |
| Slovak | oné, oným onô, tento, hento, tamto |
| Spanish | chisme, follón (Spain) chingadera (Mexico) la hueá, wea (Chile) |
| Swahili | burungo, kanini |
| Swazi | nanguzana |
| Swedish | grej, grejsimojs, grunka, grunkimojs, mackapär, manick, moj, mojäng, pryl, sak, tingest, tjofräs |
| Tagalog | anó, kuán, kuwán, yung anó |
| Turkish | falan, filan, filanca, ıvır zıvır, zamazingo |
| Urdu | (falāna ďhikāna) فلانہ ڈھکانہ ،(falāñ) فلاں |
| Vietnamese | classifier + gì đó |
| Welsh | pethma, be’ ti’n galw, be’ chi’n galw, bechingalw |
| Yiddish | der zach, freppice, veeblefetzer |
| Yoruba | lagbaja, temedu |
| Zulu | nansika |
| Auxiliary and constructed languages | |
|---|---|
| Esperanto | io ajn, ajno, ajna, ajne, umo |
https://www.facebook.com/groups/363798994977415/permalink/399754498048531/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/omniglot/permalink/10158643011994666/
https://www.freethesaurus.com/thingamy
https://www.powerthesaurus.org/thingamajig
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thingamabob
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:thingy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_placeholder_names_by_language
Here's a song I wrote that features a few of these words:
People who have contributed to this section
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, or if you can provide recordings, please contact me.
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